Tancred of Galilee

Tancred of Galilee (1075-5 December 1112) was Prince of Galilee under the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1100 to 1112 for Bohemond I of Antioch and his successor Bohemond II of Antioch.

First Crusade
Tancred was born in 1075, a son of Odo the Good Marquis and Emma of Hauteville; he was the grandson of Robert Guiscard and the nephew of the future Duke Bohemond I of Antioch. Tancred joined his uncle during the First Crusade, and he refused to swear an oath of loyalty to Emperor Alexius I of Byzantium unlike any of the other crusaders. After the Byzantine Empire took the city of Nicaea in 1097 after secret negotiations with the Seljuks, Tancred began to distrust the Byzantines, and in 1097 he captured Tarsus in southern Asia Minor before taking part in the 1098 Siege of Antioch. On 15 July 1099, Tancred and Gaston IV of Bearn claimed to be the first crusaders to enter Jerusalem after its capture, but Ludolf of Tournai was later discovered to be the first man inside the city. Tancred decided to save some citizens from massacre by hiding them in the Temple of Solomon, but they were massacred during the sack of the city, angering Tancred. However, he was made Prince of Galilee after the success of the crusade, and he ruled this fief under the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Regent of Antioch
In 1100, Tancred became regent of the Principality of Antioch after Bohemond was captured at the Battle of Melitene, and Tancred decided to act against both the Saracens and the Byzantines. Tancred captured land from the Byzantines, and in 1104 Tancred also took over the County of Edessa when Baldwin II of Edessa was captured at the Battle of Harran. In early 1109, Baldwin retook power by force after being released by the Muslims, and Tancred returned to Antioch, disappointed. When Bohemond left for Europe to recruit more crusaders, Tancred became regent of Antioch once more, and in 1110 he took over the Krak des Chevaliers castle. Tancred served as regent until his death of typhoid fever in 1112.